Obscured by Clouds. The rough and ready blog of a cloud benighted biologist and amateur astronomer. Astroblog will cover my interests in astronomy, biology and Life, the Universe and Everything.

Tuesday, May 06, 2014

The Sky This Week - Thursday May 8 to Thursday May 15

The Full Moon is Thursday May 15. Jupiter is the brightest object
in the early evening sky. Mars is prominent in
the
evening sky and the Moon is close to Mars on the 11th. Saturn is at opposition on the 11th, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth. The Moon occults Saturn on the 14th. Venus is
prominent
in the morning sky. The eta Aquariid meteor shower is visible on the mornings of the 8-9 May. The asteroids Vesta and
Ceres are visible in binoculars.

The Full Moon is Thursday May 15. The Moon occults Saturn on May 14 (see below).

Evening
sky on Sunday May 4 looking north-west as seen from Adelaide at
20:00 pm ACST in South Australia. Jupiter is above the north-western
horizon. The crescent Moon is close by. The inset
shows Jupiter's Moons at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is in the constellation Gemini and is the brightest object in
the early evening sky. Jupiter is becoming harder and harder to observe as it sets earlier.

Jupiter
is high
enough to begin
observing telescopically when twilight ends. Jupiter sets around 21:00,
so there is only a couple of hours for good telescopic observation
now.

In the early evening it is above the north-western horizon between the
bright
stars Castor and Pollux, the twins of Gemini, and the bright red star
Betelgeuse. Jupiter is quite easy to
see as the brightest object in the entire sky in the early evening. In the early evening the
sight of bright Jupiter sinking to the west, and bright Mars (still not
as bright as Jupiter though) rising in the east is quite beautiful.
Jupiter's Moons are readily visible in binoculars.

Mars is easily seen in the evening,
rising as Jupiter is setting.
It is highest in the sky around 21:30. Mars was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest, on the 9th of April, and
is still
readily distinguishable as the bright red/orange object above the
north-eastern evening horizon. Mars is in the constellation of Virgo near the
brightish star Porrima, not far from the bright star Spica. Mars is well worthwhile looking at in a
telescope now, although you will need a decent one to see any detail.

The Moon is close to Mars on the 11th.

Saturn is rising higher in the evening sky, and is at opposition on the 11th. This is wehn Saturn is closest and brightest as seen from Earth. Saturn is now visible all night long. Saturn is high enough
from around 11 pm for decent telescopic observation (see below).
Saturn is in Libra near the head
of the constellation of the Scorpion. Saturn forms a triangle with the
two brightest stars of Libra, its apex pointing towards the head of the
Scorpion. On the evening of the 14th Saturn is occulted by the Moon (see below).

Morning sky on Thursday May 8 looking east as seen from Adelaide
at 5:00 am ACST. The radiant of the eta Aquariid meteor shower is
shown. Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at equivalent
local times. (click
to embiggen).

Venus is in the morning sky, above the eastern horizon. The brightest object
in the morning sky, it is now easy
to see and although it is past maximum
brightness, it will dominate the morning sky for some time to come.

Venus was at its furthest distance from
the Sun on the 23rd of March, and now will begin to slowly sink towards
the horizon. Venus is a clear gibbous Moon shape.

The eta Aquariids meteor shower, the debris from Halleys comet, peaked on May 6 UT . However, good rates will be seen from Australia on the 8th and 9th.

People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 6 minutes,
and in the country about once every 3 minutes. The
radiant of the shower is about five handspans up from the eastern
horizon, and three handspans to the left of due east at 4 am, just above
and to the left of rising Venus (see spotter chart at 5 am above).

When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least
5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark. Don't look
directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start
their "burn" some distance from it, but around a handspan up or to the
side. Be patient, although you should see an average of
a meteor every six to three minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by
without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.

Evening
sky on Wednesday May 14 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 20:00
pm
ACST in South Australia.
Saturn is just about to go behind the Moon.
The inset show the telescopic views of Saturn at this time.

On the evening of Wednesday 14 May Saturn is occulted by the Moon as seen from the most of Australia (and all of New Zealand).

The Moon is a very obvious signpost where look and Saturn will be the
brightest object near the Moon. Start watching about half an hour before
hand to get set up and familiar with the sky. The occultation is early enough so that kids can get involved. Why not have a star party in your back yard?

The occultation starts around 21:00 eastern time, 20:00 central time and 18:26 Western time. For exact time from many cities and observing hints, see my Saturn Occultation site.

The asteroids Vesta and Ceres are just below Mars, and easily visible in
binoculars. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent
local time (click to embiggen).

Two bright asteroids are now visible in binoculars in the evening sky. 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta.
Vesta is now bright enough to be just visible to the unaided eye in
dark sky locations.Unfortunately the waxing Moon means that it will not
be visible to the unaided eye this week. While Vesta is easily seen in
binoculars, you will
need to watch the same patch of sky in binoculars for a couple of nights
to identify it by its movement. Ceres never gets brighter than
magnitude 7, but is easily in the range of 10x50 binoculars. See here for a printable black and white map suitable for seeing seeing Vesta and Ceres.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially
with Jupiter, Mars and Venus so prominent in the sky, and Saturn coming into view. If you don't have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.